NIPSA has been in consultation with NICS HR about a proposal to pilot a Civil Service Skills Academy aimed at people with Level 5 or higher qualifications, that would provide training for participants that are “unemployed, underemployed or seeking to retrain”, and who on successful completion of the skills training would be guaranteed a job interview for vacancies in the Department for the Economy and the Executive Office at Staff Officer and Deputy Principal grades.
NIPSA is not opposed in principle to such a pilot, however we raised our concerns with this proposal as we believed that we had not been given appropriate time to consult meaningfully before it was to launch (on 4 July 2022), as while our members can apply for the training, it would be unequitable with those external participants which the pilot is aimed at. On that basis we asked for a postponement for discussions to allow a better understanding of what it actually meant for current NICS staff and so that they could have an ability to retrain, reskill and enjoy movement across the NICS, as had previously been the case.
Management Side decided against a postponement and are proceeding. As NIPSA have not agreed to this pilot, we have raised this with the Head of the Civil Service and the Finance Minister along with other significant concerns we have in relation to a series of external recruitment exercises over the last while.
We believe that the normal policy position has been replaced with a “default” to external competitions to the extent that our members have reported to us that they no longer consider they have career options or career progression within the NICS. More recent reports have highlighted the arbitrary nature of the psychometric testing regime, which NIPSA has taken to tribunal but has unfortunately been delayed due to the pandemic. However, there is a further hearing on 30 November 2022 at which stage it is anticipated that the cases will be listed for hearing.
NIPSA are not opposed to external recruitment nor to ensuring that gender, age and all other equality considerations are part of the recruitment process, however it cannot be to the exclusion of internal promotion and progression for our members and whilst we recognise that in the external competitions mostly internal candidates have been successful, we are of the view that things need to be done differently to take account of internal staff and their career progression, training opportunities and movement across the NICS.
We fully understand our members’ frustrations particularly after the past 2½ years of first class service delivery to the public during a pandemic. We appreciate that morale is low and I am writing to make you aware that we have raised all of these issues on your behalf and will continue to raise at the highest level to represent your best interests in an attempt to have issues addressed.